Paris-Beguin (1931)
Directed by Augusto Genina

Film Review

Augusto Genina already had seventy films to his name before he made the film for which he is best known today, Prix de beauté (1930), a barbed social satire featuring Louise Brooks at her most radiant.  This film is noted for its particularly bleak ending which anticipates film noir, in both its composition and its grim fatalism.  In the films that Genina made after this - Paris-Beguin (1931) and Les Amours de minuit (1931) - the proto-noir impression is felt even more keenly, and in both films we see the origin not only of French film noir but also poetic realism, a style of melodrama that would come to predominate in French cinema of the late 1930s.

It is in Paris-Beguin that Jean Gabin first played the kind of role with which he would be most associated in the first half of his career, that of the doomed outsider, the essential protagonist of any film noir.  At the time, this was a significant departure for Gabin, from the 'cheeky chappy' juvenile roles he had played in musical comedies, a hangover from his days in the French music hall.  Whilst he still has a sympathetic allure, a darker side to Gabin is beginning to emerge.  Already we can see the ambiguous characters that would define his screen persona in the pre-WWII era.  In Paris-Beguin Gabin had his first screen appearance alongside an actor who would become a lifelong friend, the then virtually unknown Fernandel.  Right from the moment when Fernandel first appears in this film, playing the fool with his customary élan, it is clear that he is destined for greater things.  Although he has a fairly minor role in the proceedings, as the sympathetic hoodlum Fernandel leaves a lasting impression.  Paris-Beguin deserves to be better known than it is - two icons of French cinema were born in this film.

But what became of the female star of the film, the stunning Jeanne Marnac?  This was her only sound film (prior to this she had appeared in one or two silent films) and it looks as if she devoted almost her entire career to the stage - fitting then that she should play a star of the Folies-Bergère in Genina's film, at one point sporting what is probably the most outrageous headdress in history.  Saturnin Fabre, another highly regarded actor near the start of his illustrious film career, crops up briefly to show that, among his achievements, dog handling is not one of them.  It is also worth noting that Fernandel's criminal sidekick Jean-Max, the villain of the piece, also shared the limelight with Gabin and Fernandel in Anatole Litvak's Coeur de lilas (1932).

Echoing Prix de beauté, Paris-Beguin juxtaposes two worlds - one of dreams and illusion, the other of sordid vice and real human suffering.  Gabin's inability to betray his lover, even if it means he is likely to be condemned for a crime of which he is innocent, confers on him a nobility that no other character in the drama possesses - they are all stuck in their respective milieus, unable to develop nobler feelings.  A familiar tale of redemption through sacrifice, Paris-Beguin is not a great film but it transcends the formulaic melodramas of its time and effectively lays the foundation for film noir.

Film Synopsis

Jane Diamant is a popular but highly temperamental star at the Paris night spot Les Folies-Bergère.   One evening, a burglar named Bob breaks into her villa.  Seduced by Jane's beauty and feminine charms, Bob decides to spend the night with her.  The next day, Jane's employer is surprised to find a sudden change in his star's demeanour.  Eros has worked his magic on her.  Meanwhile, Bob has been arrested for murder, a crime of which he is innocent.  He knows that Jane can provide him with the alibi he needs to prove his innocence, but he refuses to mention her name through fear of soiling her reputation...